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VERO BEACH — In its first regional game in four years, St. Edward's School faltered early, falling to Lakeland Christian 5-0 in the Region 3-1A quarterfinal from Pirate Stadium.

Tanner Molony’s first half hat trick paced the Vikings attack as St. Edward’s season ended.

The Pirates (10-5-2) had a golden opportunity to light up the scoreboard early after drawing a foul inside the box for a penalty kick in the sixth minute. However, Zach Alerte's low shot was stopped by Jonathan Lehman with a diving save to his right.

“It would've been important, but I don't think it would've been the be-all, end-all of the game,” Callaghan said. “We had a few players not quite to the races mentally. The goals we concede were probably the worst goals we conceded all year, the easiest goals we’ve given up.

“I think if we scored the penalty, we’re probably going to still make the similar mistakes.”

While St. Edward struggled to muster many chances after the penalty kick, the action on the pitch soon turned into “The Tanner Molony Show.”

With his back turned to the goal, in one motion Molony twirled and lifted a curving shot from about 30 yards out by Pirates goal keeper Britt Reisman for the game's opening score in the 25th minute. Moments later for an encore, Molony knocked in a goal from similar distance, padding the Vikings (17-3-2) lead.

“Honestly, I have to thank my teammates,” Molony said. “They were playing me in good space and luckily I had a enough time to turn and just hit it on frame. That's what my coach told me; just hit on and it’ll go in.

“That's what happened on the first two; take our chances and try to finish them.”

Later in the half following a Pirates giveaway, Molony raced pass two defenders and delivered a shot underneath a closing Reisman to complete the hat trick. Molony’s rampage came in an 11-minute span, as the Pirates defenders failed to close the distance on a dangerous scorer.

“We provided them with an opportunity and they took the opportunities that were provided to them,” Callaghan said. “If we defend as we know how, we don't present those windows of space. We don't present space to turn and shoot.

“We don’t normally present those opportunities, so therefore we usually have to make teams earn their goals. Definitely, they earned them to a degree today, but we definitely gave them opportunities to finish well.”

Molony and Jordan Long added goals in the second half as Lehman was able to preserve the shutout.

“That was not a 5-0 game in my opinion, we just scored some unbelievable goals,” Lakeland Christian coach Grandy Streets said. “We got a great goal, huge goal. And we had another one and then all of a sudden, it kind of opened a little differently for us.”

Lakeland Christian will host The Pine School on Saturday in a Region 3-1A semifinal matchup.